Anyone notice how much commercials are on Nick-at-Nite's sister channel, TV Land, lately?

According to this Radio-Info post, there are now at least two six-minute commercial breaks per half-hour (maybe more). The poster reported that "Andy Griffith" broke for a six-minute commercial break, then returned for two minutes and closing credits, then had another six minute break before the next program.

And remember -- many of you are paying for this channel as part of your cable or satellite bill, for a channel that's close to half-commercials.

How is that possible with the show being like 22 mins long, at the least? Also, I regulary watch TV Land in the mornings, and I did not notice that the commercials were THAT long. Should time them next time.

Usually it goes like:

Show Opening
First part
Short Commercial
Second Part
LONG commercial
Third part
LONG commercial
Credits
Short Commercial.

I don't really like the American ads sequence
ABC1 uses it. Ours usually goes like:
Say, a show starts at 12:00
Commercials at about 12:08
Show continues at about 12:12
Credits roll
At 12:26, more commercials air until 12:30 when the next show starts.

There is a Murphy Brown marathon starting 12:00am tonight. To fit more commercial time in, they are expanding the show's timeslot out 5 mins. So, the lineup looks like this:

12:00am ep 1
12:35am ep2
01:10am ep3
etc, etc through the night.

I noticed Nick at Nite is also doing this with thier overnight marathons.

It's a cheap and pointless way for the network to get more ad time for one show slot (even though they'll eventually lose a "slot" anyway by expanding each show by 5 mins). Hope that made sense.

I also want to mention this seems to be only happening during the early AM hours and usually during a single-show marathon. So, it's not like there is 6 mins of commericals during every slot on the sched.

I don't really like the American ads sequence
ABC1 uses it. Ours usually goes like:
Say, a show starts at 12:00
Commercials at about 12:08
Show continues at about 12:12
Credits roll
At 12:26, more commercials air until 12:30 when the next show starts.

Yeah I hate that. Why have a commercial break less than ten (sometimes as little as 4 or 5) minutes after the last such as before the opening credits.

Yeah I hate that. Why have a commercial break less than ten (sometimes as little as 4 or 5) minutes after the last such as before the opening credits.

More recent shows are the worst. A show we were watching - maybe on Sky One - had its break at like 8:04 when it started at 8. Why can't be like much of Europe where most cable channels are commercial free?
The volume of ads in the US causes problems here too. For example, when we got Everybody Hates Chris, a double bill ended at about 50 minutes past the hour, even showing the max commercials!

Yeah I hate that. Why have a commercial break less than ten (sometimes as little as 4 or 5) minutes after the last such as before the opening credits.

...For example, when we got Everybody Hates Chris, a double bill ended at about 50 minutes past the hour, even showing the max commercials!

Yeah, I think US has pretty much maxed out how short they can make thier shows in order to fit in more commericals. Back in the late 80's, major network shows like Cosby ran for a good 26 mins or so minutes (not counting commercials). Now, a show must be about 19-21 minutes long in order to fit in the slot with all of those commericials. That's why old shows are so chopped up and editied when they go into syndication.
IMO, to get the commercial time down, they networks should start charging more for shorter commercials (this has been happening to US radio - they found people tuning out and going to satallite, due to the commercials, so they decided to charge companies more for a shorter commerial time, and even though they don't like it, we have shorter commericials now on commercial radio (on MOST stations)). The next thing that'll end up happening is company logos airing at the side of screen during Lost or whatever (it's already effective in sporting events, newscasts, etc).

That new show flight 29 Down, when i first watched it the show was so short just for commercials. I think it is a little longer now now but it drives me crazy because you don't even get to see it much and thats why we VHS/DVD recorders.